Geek out with this romantic homage to fan culture.
The power of fan fiction becomes the romantic catalyst between an actor and a cosplayer.
Actor Marcus Caster-Rupp has shot his final scene as Aeneas in the TV series Gods of the Gates. Though the set has been home to him for seven years, he hasn't been particularly pleased with the direction the showrunners have taken his character. To work out his frustrations, he's secretly been writing fan fiction about his own character, giving Aeneas the storyline he deserves. The fanfic writing community has been a boon to him, leading him to “meet” one of his closest friends, Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, also known as Ulsie. Ulsie is really April Whittier, geologist and secret nerd determined to remain secret no longer. For too long, she’s hidden her love of Gods of the Gates and is now determined to be outgoing about her fanfic writing and cosplay projects. April starts by tweeting a picture of herself wearing a costume of Lavinia, a Gods of the Gates character and Aeneas' love interest. Fat-shaming trolls quickly make the picture go viral until Marcus himself sees it. His solution: invite April out for dinner as way to stick it to the toxic fan base. Will their in-person meeting reflect the anonymous connection they have online? Readers (and viewers) of Game of Thrones will undoubtedly catch the parallels, giving a healthy dose of fan service with a quasi fix-it feel. Both Marcus and April struggle with other people's perceptions of them: Marcus knows everyone views him as vapid while April is often first judged on her weight. While this is a sweet romance that unfolds partially through tweets and direct messages and fanfic storytelling, it’s also about the way the main characters learn to love themselves. The journey to self-acceptance is never easy, and Dade doesn’t shy away from that, but she makes it just as beautiful and gentle as the love that blooms between Marcus and April. One note is that the book is fandom heavy. If you’re entrenched in the community, you will feel right at home. If not, there’s a terminology learning curve.
Geek out with this romantic homage to fan culture.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-300554-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
Incredibly romantic and deeply human.
Reunited more than 10 years after their college romance ended in devastation, a couple realizes their connection is as strong as ever even as their wounds remain unhealed.
Before Verity Hill became an award-winning screenwriter and musical prodigy Wright “Monk” Bellamy became a household name, they met at a Georgia HBCU and fell in a deeper love than they ever thought possible, considering what they had each witnessed from their parents. Their relationship only lasted a few months, but it left a lasting impact. Now they find themselves in Los Angeles working on the same film, a Harlem Renaissance biopic that was also featured in Ryan’s Reel (2024), a romance following the movie’s director and star. This story begins in the present day but flashes back to when Verity and Monk first met and follows their college relationship through its apex to its crushing end, the result of a manic episode Verity experienced before she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder—something she never explained to Monk. Now working together and with intense attraction again firing up, Verity has to decide whether she can trust Monk with her whole truth and whether a relationship would be worth the risk. Ryan knows how to put her readers’ emotions through the wringer while staying true to her characters, so the story feels realistic and never manipulative. Every moment of heartbreak rings true. Deliciously sexy scenes are deftly integrated and vital to the characters’ development, and poetic descriptions of yearning are worthy of highlighting. Verity lives at the intersection of Black, bisexual, and bipolar, and Ryan never underplays resulting hardships while also celebrating and affirming these identities. She shows that Verity deserves, and is capable of having, a serious, passionate, committed love.
Incredibly romantic and deeply human.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9781538769652
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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